A British serial killer has served his 50th Christmas behind bars after spending more time in solitary confinement than any other criminal in the world.
Notorious killer Robert Mawdsley, 70, has now spent 50 years in a prison cell, with 45 of these in solitude, which is thought to be a world record, according to The Mirror.
The criminal, nicknamed ‘Hannibal the Cannibal’ following false reports he ate one of his victim’s brains, was just 21 when he was locked up for the murder of 30-year-old John Farrell in 1974.
Just four years later he was put into solitary confinement after killing three people inside a prison.
He now lives out his days in a 18 foot by 15 foot cell, which was built especially for him in 1983 and is protected by bullet proof glass.
Robert Mawdsley, 70, has now spent a record of 50 years behind bars, with 45 of these spent in solitude
The ‘hannibal’ murderer has been locked up in HMP Wakefield, where he killed three of his victims whilst behind bars
Mawdsley was ruled unfit for trial after murdering Farrell, who was reportedly a child sex offender.
He was sent to Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire in 1977, where he took a fellow inmate hostage before stabbing him to death with a plastic spoon.
Rumours spread that Mawdsley had eaten some of his brain after the victim was found with the spoon in his ear.
Mawdsley was then sent to Wakefield prison in West Yorkshire where he murdered another two inmates, which landed him in solitary confinement in 1978.
In a Channel 5 documentary HMP Wakefield: Evil Behind Bars, Maudsley’s nephew Gavin from Liverpool revealed how his softly spoken, ‘well-read’ uncle is content to be locked away from the rest of the world.
He added: ‘[If you] put him with rapists and paedophiles, I know because he told us, he is going to kill as many paedophiles as he can. I’m not condoning what he did, but…the people he killed were really bad people.’
Mawdsley previously said he is ‘happy and content in solitary’ but also once described spending the majority of his day in his small space as ‘like being buried alive in a coffin’.
He has been repeatedly turned down for requests to spend time with other people, spending his days in a specially built cell.
Mawdsley (pictured) was ruled unfit for trial after murdering Farrell, who was reportedly a child sex offender
He has been categorised as the UK’s most dangerous murderer and spends his days at HMP Wakefield (pictured)
In 2021, he lost an appeal to spend Christmas with other people and was told that he will be incarcerated in his ‘glass box’ until he dies. He also has a table and chair made of compressed cardboard.
The killer wrote to newspapers campaigning for better treatment in the early days of his confinement.
In 2000, Maudsley launched a legal bid to the courts requesting to be allowed to die.
He wrote a letter asking: ‘What purpose is served by keeping me locked up 23 hours a day? Why even bother to feed me and to give me one hour’s exercise a day? Who actually am I a risk to?’
He went on to question why he couldn’t have a pet budgie, promising to love it and ‘not eat it.’
Mawdsley is believed to be Britain’s longest serving prisoner after Moors murderer Ian Brady, who served 51 years. He died in 2017.
US prisoner Albert Woodfox, who died last year, held the world record for solitary confinement at 43 years, before his release in 2016.
A spokesman for The Ministry of Justice told The Mirror there was ‘no such thing as solitary confinement in our prison system’.
They added: ‘Some offenders will be segregated if they pose a risk to others. They are allowed time in the open air every day, visits, phone calls, and access to legal advice and medical care like everyone else.’